"I Don't Understand Why Haredim Ask a Rabbi Who to Vote For": 5 Points for Thought

Da'at Torah

Some individuals are troubled by various questions: occupational decisions—should they work in a certain profession or not? Marital choices—should they marry a particular person or not? During elections—should they vote for this or that candidate? In facing these uncertainties, they turn to a rabbi for guidance on how to act.

This occurred recently during the local municipality elections. A non-religious friend exclaimed in frustration: "I don't understand why Haredim ask the rabbi who to vote for. What does a rabbi know about politics? Don't people have their own minds to think with or opinions on what to choose? Why involve the rabbi?"

I attempted to explain that in this case, it was not just any rabbi, but rather the Gadol Hador, Maran Shalom Cohen, the head of the Council of Torah Sages, who was ordained by Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, z"l. And if he tells us to vote for Shas and a specific candidate, we do so without question!

"But don't you have your own opinion?" my friend asked. I told him that my opinion doesn't matter, only the will of the Creator of the world, and that's what guides my actions."

My friend couldn't understand the connection. I continued to explain: in every important decision one must make in life, it's crucial to consult "Da'at Torah."

What is "Da'at Torah"?

One might say: I want to fulfill Hashem's will, but I'm not a prophet. If I were a prophet, I'd ask Hashem directly what to do in this situation. And if it's written in halacha what I should do, then here, Hashem spoke to us in the Torah and told us what is allowed and what's forbidden.

But for matters not specified in halacha—like questions about child education, relocating, etc., one must ask for Da'at Torah. What is Da'at Torah? Since I can't speak to Hashem and ask directly, and I'm not thoroughly knowledgeable in the entire Torah, for my reasoning to align with the Torah, therefore, we ask a great Torah scholar, who has studied so much Torah that his thinking process is inherently Torah-based. When I ask him what the Da'at Torah is concerning an issue, he answers based on what’s written in the Torah. So, if I were to ask Hashem, this is what He would tell me!

Should one also consult on worldly matters? Isn't "Da'at Torah" exclusively about religious topics, excluding politics, state affairs, or general life conduct?

The answer is yes. The Chofetz Chaim, z"l, quoted Rabbi Itzel of Valozhyn, z"l: "There is no question in the world that doesn’t have an answer in our holy Torah. It just requires enlightened eyes to find where it is written."

And is one obligated to act according to the rabbi's directions? Haven't we seen that rabbis can err?

The Creator empowered the great leaders of each generation to guide us, and obligated us to follow their directives, even if it seems to us they are mistaken. How do I know the Creator empowered them? Where in the Torah is it commanded to obey the great leaders, the decisors, and rabbis? "And you shall come to the priests, Levites, and to the judge who will be in those days, and inquire; and they will declare to you the sentence of judgment. And you shall act according to the word that they declare to you from that place that Hashem will choose, and take care to do all that they instruct you. According to the Torah that they shall teach you, and according to the judgment that they shall tell you, you shall do: don't deviate from the word that they will tell you right or left" (Deuteronomy 17:9-11).

"Is the World a Very Narrow Bridge?"

If we placed a narrow plank on the ground, 50 cm wide and 300 meters long, and asked people to walk on it for 1,000 shekels - everyone would do it easily and happily.

But if we took the plank and hung it 200 meters high between two Azrieli towers, as a bridge, and announced that whoever crosses will receive 10,000 shekels, how many do you think would attempt it? No one would agree! And anyone who does would likely fall.

Why is it that when the plank is on the ground, people can cross it easily, but when it's elevated, they fail? Because fear causes them to fall. People fear falling so much that they indeed fall.

(Photo: shutterstock)

And this is the wonderful interpretation by Rabbi Zamir Cohen to the famous song, written by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov: "The world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to be afraid at all." What does "the world is a bridge" mean? The world is a sphere, not a bridge! What's the connection between a bridge and fear? Rather, it’s meant to express that life in this world is like a narrow bridge, and you can cross it—don't fear! Believe you can overcome your desires and stand up to tests. You have desires and wills, jealousy, passion, and anger – but if you decide to change, you will change! You might fall along the way, and that’s okay. But the main thing is to get up and not stay down.

This is how one learns from failure how not to fall again, until standing upright and treading the king's path. And the main thing is not to fear at all!

50% - 50%

One of the astonishing statistics I've learned recently is that the number of males is almost identical to the number of females among most creatures in the world. Summing up hundreds of studies on the numerical ratio between boys and girls born in different countries, we find that, generally, the pairing ratio is indeed 50% - 50%, with a slight deviation of up to 5%.

Not only that, but this balance remains constant regardless of the creature's habitat or group. Whether it’s a plant, tree, fungus, or algae, or whether it’s a fish, worm, snake, or mammal.

So, the human population and that of most species in nature are balanced with 50% males and 50% females, a situation that seems logically improbable. For instance, during the world wars, far more men died than women, yet no significant deviation persists today.

How does "the world" maintain equilibrium between males and females? Why does nature have an equal number of males and females? And why are there only two types: male and female? Why isn't there a third type? Who or what controls life and death, balancing the male-to-female ratio among humans, animals, and plants?

Is the balanced ratio due to "Divine Providence," ensuring every man finds a woman in the right country and age, allowing them to maintain and continue the world? A hint of this may be found in Torah: "Of every living thing of all flesh, two of every kind shall you bring into the ark to preserve them with you, they shall be male and female" (Genesis 6:19). From every living thing of all flesh—there will always be two. Those two shall be male and female—there's no other option. And what is their purpose? To preserve life!

Who Should Be More Thankful?

Two people walked different paths. One was caught by armed robbers, who beat him severely to rob him, but he escaped and made it home with his money intact. The other walked a different path, encountered no robbers, was not frightened or hurt, and arrived home safely with his money.

We ask now: who should express more gratitude to Hashem? The first or the second? Logic says the first should be more grateful because he was caught by armed robbers and was saved. But we are mistaken, and the opposite is true! Why? Though the first was attacked, frightened, and beaten but ultimately saved, the second wasn’t attacked, wasn’t frightened, wasn’t hurt, and still has his money. So, his salvation is greater, and his miracle is larger!

We learn from this that anyone whose life proceeds quietly, peacefully, and serenely must be more grateful to Hashem, who watches over them, saves them, and grants them an abundance of blessings and deliverances, compared to someone whose life is filled with challenges and struggles.

Friends, a healthy person who was never hospitalized must thank Hashem more than someone who was hospitalized and released; a couple blessed with children immediately after marriage must thank Hashem more than a couple who had a child after 10 years of fertility treatments; a person who travels safely from home to work without damage or injury must thank Hashem more than a person who experienced a car accident on the way to work and was saved without injury and damage, and so on.

So, there are people who must say thanks if they were sick and healed or rescued from an accident. But you... you weren't even harmed, so all the more reason to thank, right?

"Piltdown Man"

Since the theory of evolution declared that humans and apes share a common ancestor, researchers have diligently searched worldwide for the proof — "the missing link in the chain" — of the human descent from apes, those fossils of a primate representing the transitional phase between ape-like ancestors and modern humans.

In 1912, archaeologist Charles Dawson found a skull unknown to researchers in the village of Piltdown, England. The skull had a large braincase like that of a modern intelligent human and a jaw resembling that of an ape.

The excitement was great because the features of the bones were a blend of human anatomy—a human skull—and ape anatomy—the jaw. Researchers hastily explained that the contradiction between the skull and jaw corroborated the existence of a transitional phase between ape and human, and Darwin’s theory was proven beyond doubt.

The discovery of Piltdown Man’s skull thus reinforced the hypothesis that human ancestry diverged from other ape lineages 50-60 million years ago. Piltdown Man was the missing link between humans and the ape they evolved from!

For decades, the existence of "Piltdown Man" was considered a settled fact in the scientific community, only to be revealed in 1953 that the skull was, in fact, a cleverly executed forgery, a prank done deliberately!

After sixty years of serving the construction of the evolutionary theory, with massive piles of worthless scientific verbiage, statues, and photographs, Piltdown Man was exposed in 1953 as a hoax. The jawbone wasn’t even fossilized, as it belonged to an orangutan that died only fifty years earlier... Archaeologist Dawson was exposed as a fraud: the skull was composed of a braincase from a modern intelligent human and an orangutan jaw, filed down, fitted to the skull, and even painted with chemical compounds to give it an ancient appearance and conceal its true age and its separate origins.

The story of the Piltdown skull, which formed the basis of numerous scientific theories—its end revealed as one of the most notorious fabrications in fossil research. To this day, experts blush due to this deception, which was portrayed as "testimony to science's efficacy," leading astray even the most esteemed minds among the theoretical community...